Tropical Storm Ian was forecast to rapidly gain strength Sunday while racing across the Caribbean toward Cuba and threatening a big hit to Florida's west coast later in the week.

The storm was forecast to reach hurricane status late Sunday, then roll across western Cuba Monday night and early Tuesday.

"Significant" wind and storm surge damage was expected across a wide swath of the Atlantic Basin, and the Cuban government upgraded the hurricane watch to warning.

Heavy rainfall may affect north Florida, the Florida panhandle and the southeast United States through Saturday, the weather service update said.

NASA said Sunday that it was monitoring Tropical Storm Ian, but had not determined whether it would roll back the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to the protection of the assembly building.

The agency said it would "prioritize the agency’s people and hardware." NASA managers, who canceled a launch set for Tuesday due to the storm, planned to meet Sunday night to evaluate whether to keep the vehicle at the launch pad to preserve an opportunity for a launch attempt on Oct.

Space Force, and the National Hurricane Center indicated a "slower moving and potentially more westerly track of the storm than yesterday’s predictions showed, providing more time for the agency’s decision making process," NASA said in a statement.

AccuWeather meteorologists are warning that the storm could slam the west coast of Florida – an often-missed target. The U.S.

There is no record of a hurricane ever having tracked entirely up the west coast of Florida since records began in 1944.

But Ian will do damage even before reaching Cuba. Hurricane conditions are expected to reach Grand Cayman by early Monday, with tropical storm conditions expected by Sunday night, the weather service said

Hurricane conditions are possible within the hurricane watch area in Cuba by Monday night or early Tuesday, with tropical storm conditions possible by late Monday

Tropical storm conditions are possible within the tropical storm watch area in Cuba Monday night and Tuesday